July 12, 2014
Dear Pastor,
Recently I visited Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg, where the first seeds of revolution were sown in our country. Sitting in a pew, where many of our nation's greatest patriots and founding fathers once sat and looking up at the pulpit where George Whitefield delivered his message to a packed church during the First Great Awakening, I listened as our tour guide explained that during the forming of our great nation the church was a "hearing" rather than a "seeing" church. While this was the result of many of them having to sit in benches with their backs to the pulpit, I was reminded of Whitefield's words which still ring true to this day, "The Christian world is in a dead sleep. Nothing but a loud voice can waken them out of it."
"Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to the people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins."
(Isaiah 58:1)
As a teenager I had a divine encounter with the Lord in which He had given me a vision for a ministry of His Word during a time of a spiritual "famine of the hearing of His Word." That was thirty years ago. Eight years ago, when I responded to the Lord's call to trust Him for my first 40 day fast, He opened the door for me to experience a depth of intimacy with Him I had never known before and led me to share that process of accessing the inward devotion of His Presence in a devotional journey format. A year later, Trumpet and Torch Ministries was birthed to provide spiritual nourishment, in a divinely inspired meal-by-meal format, to believers who would answer the Lord's call to seek Him more fully with the disciplines of prayer and fasting.
There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings in the church when it comes to spiritual fasting. These have become roadblocks to many believers experiencing the supernatural and sustaining power of God's Holy Word, and realizing the depths of fulfillment and fruitfulness that come from the abiding life in Christ. The number one question (or excuse) asked about fasting is "How can I possibly go without food?" That question goes straight to the heart of the matter - self! Self always stands as an opposing obstacle in the way of God working in and through us; this is the very reason why the Lord calls us to fast in the first place (Matthew 6:16; 9:15). A.W. Tozer articulated it well when he said, "our most healthy state is to be always empty of self and constantly dependent upon God for fresh supplies...self must stand out of the way that there may be room for God to be exalted."
Fasting is not about what we are doing for God (Isaiah 58:3). Fasting is about what God wants to do for us - in us - and through us (Isaiah 58:6-12). However, we stand to miss out on being filled with all of the glorious blessings and riches of God's eternal kingdom simply because we are afraid to trust God for our daily bread. To think that we have fallen so far away from God that we can't trust Him for our most basic necessity of life - food - when all He really wants to show us is that He is our most basic necessity. "They are not just idle words for you - they are your life!" (Deuteronomy 32:47).
The Lord calls us to fast (Matthew 6:16; 9:15) to fill us. His desire is to fill us with more of His presence, His power, His provision, and His peace. He wants us to experience the fullness of His abundant life (John 10:10). However in order to fill us with more of Himself we must be first emptied of those things which are taking up prime real estate in our hearts - precious ground that belongs to God alone. If we have any hope of "raising up the age-old foundations" and restoring righteousness to the land, then we need to remove the obstacles standing in the way - and right now the Church is obstructing God's glory from being revealed to this generation.
"Build up, build up, prepare the road!
Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people."
(Isaiah 57:14)
When The Family Foundation asked me to write a devotional journey to provide spiritual nourishment for believers during their upcoming call to 40 days of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance for Marriage, the Lord impressed upon my heart that what is happening in our courts is only a reflection of what is going on in His Church. We have broken covenant with our God. We have not been faithful to God. We have not honored Him as we should. We have been married to the world rather than having our hearts wed to Christ, and everyone around us is suffering because of our carelessness and neglect. We have forsaken our First Love, and rather than the light of Christ being a blazing torch of truth and love in this land, it is slowly diminishing and at risk of being completely extinguished because we are falling further away from the glorious height of His presence (Revelation 2:4-5)! Praise God that even when we are faithless, He is always faithful! With these 40 days the Lord is graciously giving us an opportunity to return to Him with all our hearts and be restored to our rightful covenant position.
One of the greatest benefits I have observed from these protracted periods of prayer and times of consecration are hearts that have been revived and set on fire with a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness, and ears that are open and in tune to the voice of God. Pastor, the Lord has commissioned you to see that His people are nourished in the knowledge of Him, but you know firsthand that there is nothing more frustrating than spending precious time in the presence of God, being saturated with His Word to prepare His message, only to have those tender morsels fall on deaf ears. Sadly, much of the church of today is either slumbering or sinning. For all our advances in technology, which have enabled us immediate access to unlimited information, we have not grow in our knowledge of God. We have simply become more distracted and overwhelmed. Our jealous God is after our full and undivided attention, and He will administer the necessary discipline to get us back on track. Be encouraged that this 40-day devotional journey is purposed to awaken the hearts (and ears) of your congregation. God is calling us to simply be still! When we surrender our schedules and submit to the divine process of feeding on God's Holy Word three times a day, the Lord begins to build a disciplined lifestyle of dependence upon Him, and transforms our fleshly appetites into an insatiable hunger and thirst for His righteousness (Matthew 5:6). These 40 days are meant to awaken our souls with a desire for Him alone! We would love for you and your congregation to accept this Holy invitation to join us for this 40 day marriage feast!
Click HERE to Listen to a special Message to Pastors
Consecrate the Troops
Please prayerfully consider having your church join us for
this period of consecration to be still in the presence of Holy God for 40 days.
Allowing the Holy Spirit to purify our way of thinking and cleanse our way of living as we soak in the Majesty and Beauty of our Beloved Bridegroom.
Let us wed our heart to His!
We are asking the entire Body of Christ to join us for this 40 day feast -
giving up physical food is not necessary - but feeding on the spiritual food is!
40 Days of Prayer, Fasting and Repentance for Marriage
August 27th through October 5th, 2014
www.familyfoundation.org/40daysformarriage
1. Share the 40 Days for Marriage Video with your congregation
(share in a weekend or weekday service, in an email, or on your church website)
(downloadable bulletin inserts, flyers and videos are available)
2. Sign up to receive the daily devotional email journey.
(weekly encouragement emails are being sent out now
to prepare for the journey which begins on August 27th)
In Virginia, register at The Family Foundation HERE
Other states, register at Trumpet and Torch HERE
(we are currently asking the Family Policy Council in your state to join us as well
please ask them to join us)
3. Visit the HOLY information page
(Information to read to prepare for your 40 day journey
and encouraging videos to watch)
4. PRAY for the entire Body of Christ to unite together in the spirit of Acts 2:42
(May we be nourished, strengthened, revived and restored!)
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,
Traci Alexander
Trumpet and Torch Ministries
www.trumpetandtorch.org
traci@trumpetandtorch.org
Questions about 40 Days for Marriage email Roger@FamilyFoundation.org
Questions about the HOLY devotional journey and/or fasting email traci@trumpetandtorch.org or click HERE
